Spring Meadow Infant and Nursery School
Year 1 Summer Newsletter 2008
This term our theme will be minibeasts. The children will be studying a number of minibeasts, including caterpillars and butterflies. Our visit will be to the Butterfly Farm at Long Sutton in June, where we will meet a variety of minibeasts.
English
We shall continue to follow the Literacy Strategy and our ERR phonics work. The children will be writing poetry about minibeasts, life cycles of some minibeasts and plants and an account of our visit to the Butterfly Farm. We will also be writing imaginative stories.
The children will be undertaking more comprehension work this term in order to prepare them for year 2.
Many of the children are now confident readers, so, if the teacher has not been able to change his/her book please read other picture books together. The more the children read widely the better!
Numeracy
In numeracy hour the children will be listening to real life problems and recording them in number sentences (sums). They will be identifying odd and even numbers, asked to give 1 or 10 more or less than a given number. They will need to ensure that they know all the addition facts to 10 and all the addition and subtraction facts to 5. In money they will be making amounts to £1 and giving change to 20p. They will also study aspects of time and measurement (length, capacity and mass/weight). They will be learning about the properties of 2D and 3D shapes, rotation and symmetry.
ICT
The children will continue to use computers for drawing / painting, research and writing. They will also be programming the ‘roamer’.
Science
In science we shall be studying life and living processes. The children will be classifying living things through studying their similarities and differences. We shall study the life cycle of a butterfly in detail through watching the development of “Painted Lady” caterpillars in the classroom. The children will plant seeds and conduct experiments to find the optimum conditions for a plant to grow in and learn to name all the parts of a plant,
History
The children will develop their understanding of chronology through the study of life cycles.
P.E.
Dance
The children will be responding imaginatively to produce movements that represent different types of minibeasts. They will also learn some traditional country dances.
Games
We shall be learning to skip, as well as developing our skills with ropes, bats, balls, hockey sticks and practising for Sports Day, which will take place on June 6th. The children must have their full named kit with them, as we shall be outside. Children who do not have shorts, t-shirt and plimsolls or trainers will not be allowed to participate for safety reasons.
Gymnastics
The children will be learning how to build different body shapes and movements into a sequence on the floor and apparatus.
Art
The children will be developing their paint mixing, drawing and printing skills. They will also be using different textures to create a class collage on a mini beast theme.
P.S.H.E. & C
The children will be learning about their bodies and how to keep them healthy. During the unit the children will be labelling all the external parts of the body. A letter will be coming home giving more details later. If you should have any objection to this please speak to your child’s teacher nearer the time.
Ways in which you can help your child.
- Please hear them read every night. Remember that it is important to ask them about what they have read to check their comprehension.
- Please ensure that their book bag is in school every day.
- Please help us ensure that your child knows their addition number bonds for 10. This is an important target for year 1, e.g. 10+0=10
9+1 =10
8+2 =10
7+3 =10 etc.
- Please ensure that your child’s uniform and games kit is named. When the weather is warmer the children will remove jumpers and cardigans and teachers have no way of knowing which jumper or cardigan belongs to which child.
- For safety reasons, on your child’s P.E. days’ please remove earings.
Thank you for your continued support
Year One staff.
DT
The children will be working in clay to make a model of a minibeast on a leaf.
Music
The children will be exploring and naming percussion and musical instruments. They will also be looking at the symbols used in music and will learn how to follow a graphic score and then have a go at composing one of their own.
R.E.
Our theme for the first half of the term is weddings and other promises people make. The children will learn how Christians celebrate weddings, the ceremony, traditions etc. and look at wedding ceremonies from other cultures. If anyone would like to send in any photographs or artefacts from their wedding we would be very pleased to see them.
In the second half of the term we shall be learning about important people in the Christian and other faiths.
Geography
During the first half term we will be looking at and drawing plans of the playground and school. We will be discussing our local environment and ways we can improve it.
We shall also be learning about places within the U.K. and abroad with Barnaby Bear. The children will be asked to bring in postcards and photographs of places they have visited, so we can find them on a map and compare them with Ely. If you go away –for the day or on holiday-could you please send a postcard to your children’s class. We can then locate the place on a map of the U.K. or the world |
